Bear in Heaven

Over the course of four albums, Brooklyn's Bear in Heaven have carved out a unique sound, which straddles the line between epic and intimate. Ornate but never fussy, progressive but seldom pretentious, their head-rush, synth-driven songs take the best bits of shoegaze and dream-pop and crank the volume up to 11, occasionally approaching Muse-like heights of pomp and splendor. Though pared down in the studio to just a trio — founder and frontman Jon Philpot, guitarist/bassist Adam Wills and drummer Jason Nazary — the band sounds bigger than ever on their latest, Time Is Over One Day Old, especially on the surging, Slowdive-like "Autumn" and the anthemic "Demonic," on which Philpot's choirboy vocals come across like Jose Gonzalez crooning a School of Seven Bells cover. Tue., Sept. 2, 8:30 p.m., 2014 (Expired: 09/02/14)

Andy Hermann is L.A. Weekly's music editor. His work has also appeared in Metromix (where he was national music editor), XLR8R, BPM, the Daily Dot and the Boston Phoenix. He lives in Highland Park and loves house music, wine, cats and Phil Collins, though not necessarily in that order.